The root cause of human misery is idolatry. What is idolatry? It is putting created things before the Creator.
There is a deep void within man that needs to be filled. Man was made for relationship and connection. He wants something that can satisfy his deepest longings—the longings of the soul.
Man is a dualistic being at minimum. He has a physical body and an inner being. The physical body can be defined as his earthly home through which he relates to the material world. The physical part of man needs physical food to survive and material comforts to thrive. The physical part of man allows him to relate to the other creatures on the planet. Animals eat, drink, have sexual relationships, etc., and man participates in the same via his physical nature.
But life in the physical home alone will not satisfy him, for he also needs to feed his inner man, his higher nature. The higher nature needs deep, intimate relationships. The inner nature seeks a deep connection. The higher nature wants to be accepted, known, and loved as is. Man wants to be loved in his totality.
But this is difficult because man is evil; he has flaws and can find it challenging to find someone who will accept him as he is if they were to know him in his fullness. To many, a mother's love is the highest form of love they know, for a mother or father tolerates us with many of our faults. They know us. But for others, even a parent's love doesn't cover the entire inner man. There is still misunderstanding; there is still rejection.
Life can be frustrating when the needs of the inner man are not met—when you feel no one understands you. It is a painful experience to live without a deep inner connection with anyone.
Idolatry is the attempt to fill that void with created beings or created things. The problem is that created things can't fulfill it; it's too deep. For you to feel completely loved, you would need someone to completely understand you: to know what you are trying to accomplish when you do something, what your true intentions are when you say something, and so forth. You need someone who understands your thought process and with whom you have a perfect understanding.
The thing is, this level of intimate knowledge is hard to come by because many people don't even understand themselves, much less others. Many people are so distracted in life that they have no time for introspection, so forget about them trying to intimately know another.
We try to force or manipulate others to love us, to stay with us. Some of us get clingy and basically suffocate others in our search for a deeper intimacy, and their lack of response leads to great misery. Sometimes in our attempt to get their love through deceptive means, they go away from us, which leads us to deeper despair. And so, human relationships end up in misery. To seek that deep, intimate relationship with humans first and foremost will lead to misery, frustration, and inner anger.
Some people, having seen the failure of having true intimacy with humans, seek to fill the void with pleasure, materialism (money), and whatever else they feel provides them with some form of comfort. Yet these things, being inanimate, cannot fulfill, and the soul is left desolate. Violence and all manner of destructive behavior follow as a result.
The Creator is the only One who truly understands us, accepts us, and can fulfill our innermost longings. The Creator, being a Spirit, can connect with our spirit. Being all-knowing, He knows all our innermost parts. Being all-loving, He loves us to the innermost core. He knows what we need, when we need it, and how we need it. He made us primarily for a relationship with Him, and from our relationship with Him, we learn how to have relationships with others.
Idolatry is Satan's cruel work to make us seek satisfaction from material things—which are beneath us and can't fulfill the soul—or from other people, who are focused on their own needs being met first and yours second.
Reliance on God will fulfill your deepest longings and make you strong. You will have Someone who is never too busy to hear you, never tired of hearing you, and knows how to sustain you.
Idolatry makes us weak and feeble as we put our dependence on selfish human beings, but reliance on God makes you strong enough to sustain another person as you lead them to Christ.
The best thing you can do in life is to ask God for the strength to remove all idols and to put Him first. Trust me, it's for your own happiness.
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